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INTERVENTION IN CUBAN AFFAIRS. 



SPEECH 



Hon. DONELSON CAFFERY, 



OF LOUISIANA, 



IN THE 



SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, 

Saturday, Aprii, i6, 1893. 



W A S H I jM O T O X. 

1898. 



E7i~ 



>v ' 



C/l 



68011 



. . 2^ SPEECH 



a" 



:^ HON. DONELSON CAFFERY. 



•^ 



The Senate having under consideration the joint resolution CS. R. 149) for 
the recognition of the independence of the people of Cuba, demanding that 
the Government of Spain relinquish its authority and government in the 
Island of Cuba, and to withdraw it-i land and naval forces from Cuba and 
Cuban waters, and directing the I'rcsident of the United States to use the 
land and naval forces of the United States to carry thesa resolutions iuto 
eHect— 

Mr. CAFFERY said: 

Mr. President: Differing so radically with the majority of my 
colleagues on tliis side of the Chamber as to the questions involved 
in the pending resolution and amendments, I approach their dis- 
cussion with a full sense of the fallibility of my own judgment and 
with deference to the contrary views of my colleagues. I have 
tried to view this question in every light that I could, so as to 
ascertain what position the United States could take that would 
he sustained by international law while being just and beneficial 
to both sides of the contestants now carrying on hostilities in the 
Island of Cuba. If my conclusions are wrong, it is my misfortune, 
not my fault. 

Mr. President, I have stood once before on the brink of war. 
Tliough quite young, I counseled moderation and delay. I coun- 
seled due consideration of the disastrous consequences "that might 
flow from war precipitately waged. My counsels were swept to 
the winds, and I was swept along with the balance of my people 
into the most colossal war that was ever waged between civilized 
nations. Sir, the hostile sections that engaged in that dreadful 
conflict were each a unit. It was North against South. If we, 
unhappily, must go to war with Spain, it will be waged on our 
part by a solid Union. There will be no North nor South nor 
East nor West. It will be the war of a great Republic with one 
of the oldest States of Christendom. 

But, Mr. President, in emergencies of this sort, where popular 
passions become aroused, the motives of men not in entire accord 
with the enthusiastic populace seem to be questioned. Whoever 
dares to utter an opinion or give expression to a thought not in 
lino with the prevailing current of popular opinion is gibbeted by 
a libelous press. I will send up to the desk and have "read a clip- 
ping from the Washington Times of to-day's issue in regard to 
myself. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Secretary will read as re- 
quested. 

The Secretary read as follows: 

[Prom the Washington Times, April 10.] 

A MARKEI> MAN. 

The country has marked with surprise and indignation the extraordinary 
course jnirsued in the Senate for the last two daVs by a Southern Senator 
Who apijears anxious to constitute himself the head center of a small but 
2 3358 



,^ compact body of persons whose effort is to help Spain as much as possible in 

^o the present crisis. 

Tlie underlying motive of such a service is somewhat problematical. It 
may be a desire to earn glory or it might bo a political sin with a name not 
to bo mentioned except upon the most damning evidence of its existence. 
But, be that as it may, the Senator in question needs careful watching. 
His gyrations yesterday suggest the propriety of observation if not of inves- 
tigation. His former association with an institution of charity and learning 
known as the Louisiana State Lottery Company renders him all the more 
worthy to have the critical eyes of his colleagues and of all American patriots 
lii'iuly fixed upon him. 

Mr. Ci^FFERY. It is rarely that I ever notice newspaper ar- 
ticles, nor wotild I have seen this one but for the fact that a friend 
has just sent it in to me. There is nothing in the article about 
wliich I care to make any statement except the charge that I was 
ever an agent of the Louisiana State Lottery Company. The gro- 
tesqueness of the lie is the only thing that commends itself to my 
especial notice, for, Mr. President, if there is anything in my life 
for which I take pride it is in the efforts which I made to help 
break down the infamous institution of the Louisiana State Lot- 
tery Compau}'. 

I say this editorial applies to me, though I am not named, be- 
cause I am the only Senator from Louisiana who took any part in 
the debate on the Cuban question during the last two days. 

I point to the balance of that editorial as a commentary on the 
times. Sir, it is an epitome of the corruption of American jour- 
nalism. It shows the extent and the depth to which libelous, 
corrupt newspapers will go in order to lash public men into fol- 
lowing their arrogant dictation. Sir, when I can bring myself, 
as humble as I am, to take one line of action or one inspiration of 
thought from the libelous and slanderous journals that are now 
attempting to hound this country on to war, I hope that moment 
will be my last. 

Mr. President, I differ, and I differ honestly, with the Committee 
on Foreign Kelations in the view which it has taken of this matter. 
The joint resolution which it has reported is a declaration of war. 
Whatever action I favor, and I do favor intervention, is predicated 
upon it as a humane movement which may result in war, but 
which is justified under international law. If war comes of it, 
our hands are clean. If war does not come of it. then, conjointly 
with Spain and the insurgents, we will relieve Cuba of the terri- 
ble suffering and destitution and misery and death which now 
prevail there. 

Intervention by a friendly power to put an end to hostilities that 
have culminated into barbarous cruelties, inhuman slaughter, 
more inhuman starvation, and universal ruin, waste, and destruc- 
tion is justified by that code which prescribes the rule of conduct 
among civilized nations. Nearness to the scene of conflict is a 
controlling factor in prompting the intervention. Being justified 
by principle and practice among the nations, it can not be con- 
strued, necessarily, into an act of war. While nonintervention 
is the rule, intervention in sucli a case as that of Cuba forms a 
just exception. Spain has not been able to pacify the island nor 
subdue the insurgents. The work of death and destruction goes 
on with a fearfully increasing progress. Humanity stands aghast 
at the awful spectacle, and the President, following its noble dic- 
tates and sustained by the law of nations, which is likewise God's, 
asks of us the power to intervene to arrest carnage and death. 1 
Mr. President, stand ready to grant it. 
3358 



Sir, the conflict in Cuba is but the culmination of a series of 
rcvohitions commencing fifty years ago. Last night the Senator 
from Texas [Mr. ('hilton] alhided to the insurrection headed by 
Lopez, in which the gallant Kentuckian, Crittenden, lost his life. 
The recol'ections of my earliest boyhood are associated with that 
insurrection, for from my native town went one of the most gal- 
lant men that God ever created and was slaughtered on Cuban 
soil for what he thought was Cuban libert}'. From the expedi- 
tion of Lopez till to-day there have been insurrections after insur- 
rections to meet the same untimely fate, the same crushing dis- 
aster, as that of Lopez. 

In vain has autonomy been ofifered by Spain. It has been re- 
jected by the insurgents. In vain has an armistice been offered 
by Spain. It has likewise been rejected by the insurgents. 

The fighting still goes on, and it must cease. 

But the present revolution assumes a proportion and a scope of 
destructive power greater than any of the preceding ones. Its 
inevitable result is to make Cuba a charnel house of destruction 
and death. From the topographical condition of that country, 
from the character of the people who inhabit it, descended as they 
are from the Spaniards, a guerrilla war is the only war they would 
naturally tight. From the time that the Saracens invaded Spain 
and defeated the Spaniards at Gibraltar until the last Moor was 
driven out eight hundred years after there was a constant guerrilla 
hand-to-hand fight between the Spaniard and tlie Moor. 

The guerrilla instinct has been inherited by all of Spanish 
blood from centuries of strife, and we see it developed in Cuba to 
the most extensive proportions. A handful of insurgents occupy- 
ing the interior of the island bid defiance to the trained soldiery of 
Spain. The island is about 750 miles long and about 50 miles 
wide. It has a population of 1,000,000 people. The interior is 
occui)ied by mountains. The habitations are mostly upon the 
seaboard. The insurgents retire to the mountain fastnesses and 
from there they swoop down upon the Spanish soldiery. 

Sir, it is manifest from the history of this revolution, the in- 
ability of 200,000 armed and equipped and disciplined Spanish 
troops to put down 30,000 insurgents, that the power of Spain is 
slowly dying in that island. It is manifest that the loss of her 
sovereignty is but a question of time. But it does not result, even 
if that island is a desert, that the roving bands of insurgents with- 
out a government of law, without the forces of a civilized gov- 
ernment, are therefore a state; and we are called upon in the 
amendment to the resolution to recognize a state. What is recog- 
nition? It is merely certifying to the existence of a fact. It is 
perceiving the identity of some status and so declaring. You can 
not make it by words. You can not recognize a state which has 
no existence, and all the power of the great Congress of the 
United States can not create the smallest state in Christendom 
by statute or declaration. 

IMr. President, how do civilized countries wage war or how do 
they recognize the existence of war? They wage war by state 
against state. It is not every individual of every state who is at 
war with every other individual of the opposing hostile state. 
Noncombatants are safe. Tliat is one of the blessings — an unal- 
loyed, a grand blessing — that the international code has bestowed 
upon civilizat'on. In ancient times during war every man's hand 
was against his adversary. The Komaus butchered and murdered 



and killed or enslaved every man whose state was hostile to Rome, 
whether with arms or whether without. The murder of prisoners 
was common. But modern civilization has erected another stand- 
ard. War is carried on by state against state and with regularly 
drilled and equipped armies. It has become a science. It is tha 
science of death, but still it is a science. It is not a pellmell, 
hurly-burly fight. So, therefore, when you recognize belliger- 
ency you must recognize a war which is carried on under the codo 
of civilized nations. 

It is immaterial to inquire, as to the existence of belligerency, 
whether the power of recognizing it belongs to the Executive or 
to the legislative branch of Government, or to both conjoined; 
but when you recognize belligerency you must perceive, identify, 
point oi;t something which civilization calls, in the language of 
President Grant, the terrible and awful dignity of war; not rov- 
ing, undisciplined bands, not men fighting here to-day and there 
to-morrow over a vast expanse of territory, which they do not 
hold permanently, or substantially so, but you must find an army. 
Is there such an army in Cuba as comes iip to the requirements of 
the modern definition of "war? " Do you find such a government 
as comes up to the modern definition of a "government? " Has it 
exclusive power within any certain area of territory? Has it 
courts, and does it administer justice? All these qiTestious must 
be answered in the affirmative, and answered not upon inference, 
not upon loose, disjointed facts, not upon a paper constitution and 
paper schoolhouses and levies of blackmail called taxes, but you 
must have your established government, your equipped institu- 
tions capable of exercising all the functions of civil government, 
and regular armies, carrying on war under civilized methods, and 
then you have belligerence. 

Belligerence is nothing more, upon an investigation of the au- 
thorities, which I do not care to read to any extent, than tempo- 
rary statehood. When statehood becomes permanent, then you 
recognize the State. When it is only temporary and there is a 
doubt of its permanence, as in the case of Texas when General 
Jackson forbore to recognize the independence of that State until 
such time as there would be no danger of Mexican subjugation, 
you recognize belligerence. The only marked essential distinction 
is as between a permanent and temporary statehood. With 
whom will this great Government deal in the matter of belliger- 
ence? It must be wnth some political entity that has the muni- 
ments of a state, something that is covered by statehood indicia, 
something that there can be no mistake about upon the part of the 
recognizing power. That is belligerence. It is not necessary that 
these requirements be of a permanent character. Temporary pos- 
session of them authorizes the recognition of belligerence. 

Mr. President, at the expense of thrashing over some of the old 
straw perhaps, I will quote certain definitions of statehood, in 
order to see whether or not we can recognize the independence or 
belligerence of the insurgents under Maximo Gomez or anybody- 
else. 

Mr. Wheaton, page 33, in his definition of a state, sas's: 

A state is also distinguishable from an unsettled horde of wandering sav- 
ages not yet formed into a civil society. The legal idea of a state necessarily 
implies that of the habitual obedience of its members to those persons in 
whom the superiority is vested and of a fixed abode and definite territory 
belonging to the people by whom it is occupied. 
3358 



6 

I will read another one of them, and ask that the other defini- 
tions which I have maybe inserted in my remarks in tlie Record. 
Woolsey, section 36, says: 

A state is a commniiity of persons living within certain limits of territory 
Tindor a permanent orfjauization, which aims to secure the prevalence of jus- 
tice Ly self-imposed law. 

Then I refer to Hall, section 1: 

The marks of an independent state arc tliat the commnnity constitutinp; 
it is permanently established for a political end, that it possesses a deflned 
territorj-, and that it is independent of external control. 

Now, in regard to the proposition which I have advanced, that 
belligerence is temporary statehood, I cite Hall, section 5, page 34: 

It is no doubt incumbent upon a state to treat subjects who may have 
Buccecded in establishing a temporary independence as belligerents and not 
as criminals, and if it is incumbent upon the state itself, it is still more so 
■upon foreign governments, who deal only with external facts and who have 
no right to pass judgment upon the value, from a moral or a municipally 
legal point of view, of political occurrences taking place within other coun 
tries. 

There is the recognition of the proposition as to belligerence 
which 1 advanced, as drawn from the definition of statehood itself. 
I think it needs no further corroboration. It is self-evident to my 
mind. 

We are called upon to vote for that which will stultify us. We 
are called iipon to acknowledge in our legislative capacity and as 
having jurisdiction over the matter that which does not exist; 
and, sir, if it exists at all, where is the scope of its influence; 
where is the extent of its existence? It is said that Havana is 
held by the Spaniards. There are 250,000 inhabitants of that island 
in the one city of Havana. A majority of the population of the 
island is in the cities on the seaboard, not a single one of which is 
held by the insurgents. Now, if independence is recognized, how 
can the recognition cover any other than the territory occupied 
exclusively by the insurgents? Who has informed tis where that 
territory is? Who could possibly define its limits and give it a 
local habitation? What skillful guide could conduct an American 
minister to the mountain capital of Gomez? It has been admitted 
that twice that fancied capital has been changed, but that would 
amount to little if there had ever been one. 

Every President from Grant to McKinley, having cognizance of 
all the facts surrounding the case, has refused to recognize the in- 
dependence of Cuba or its belligerence; and, sir, they had sympa- 
thy — not mock sympathj'-, but real American sympathy — for real 
patriots struggling for real liberty. Were they unsympathetic 
with the struggle for human liberty? No, sir: and if there is one 
argument of a practical character stronger than another to con- 
vince me of the absolute inutility of the power of recognition be- 
longing to the legislative branch, it is oiir inability to get the 
information upon which that decision must be founded. With 
all the evidence upon which belligerency can be based in the pos- 
session of tlie President, wdio but him can ascertain its existence? 

Mr. MASON. Mr. President 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Jones of Arkansas in the 
chair). Does the Senator from Louisiana yield to the Senator 
from Illinois? 

Mr. CAFFERY. I decline to bo interrupted now. 

Mr. MASON. Very well. 

Mr. CAFFERY. Here we are, sir, meditating now this ques- 
tion of war between Spain and the United States. Here is the 
a;a8 



report of the Committee on Foreign Relations, a vohnne of GOO 
pages, purporting to be the evidence and papers concerning the 
existing relations between Spain and the United States, and we 
have had three days to examine it in the midst of this exciting 
and absorbing debate, when we sit from 10 a. in. to late in the 
evening. I have not read that book. I have not had the time; 
and 1 am called on here, in this acute spasm of public indignation 
and wrath against the atrocities committed in Cuba, to decide 
upon this gi'eat question of war. 

The Executive is charged, and charged solely, and charged ex- 
clusively, with the power of recognition. I have heard Senators 
say that because the Senate could make a commercial treaty or 
could make any other treaty, therefore there was a concurrent 
power and jurisdiction between the legislative branch and the 
executive branch in regard to recognition. It is not so, sir. Be- 
fore you negotiate your treaty you must recognize the credentials 
of the representatives of powers with whom you deal, and who 
does that but the President? His recognition is all-sufticient and 
all-conclusive as to the existence of states when he recognizes 
their ministry as clothed with power to transact the treaty. It 
spi'ings from the power to appoint and receive ministers and am- 
bassadors. That gives a wide and exclusive operation for the ex- 
ecutive exercise of authority in the premises. 

The Executive is clothed with entire jurisdiction over our ex- 
ternal affairs so far as diplomacy goes. Is there a man in the Sen- 
ate who does not know that it largely rests within the discretion 
of a President whether to precipitate a war or not by acts or cor- 
respondence entirely under his control? He has charge of all the 
diplomatic negotiations looking to laying the foundation, both in 
deed and in word, for a state of affairs that may necessarily lead 
to war: and when we declare war, we do nothing more than act 
upon the findings of the Executive. 

Mr. President, there can be no recognition of belligerency or in- 
dependence in Cuba that will hold water under the canons of 
international law. We will stultify ourselves, we will violate the 
international law, if we do so. That law appears to be scoffed at, 
sneered at, as nonexistent. No civilized nation on the globe can 
dare fly in the face of the enlightened conscience of mankind. 
That law has for its sanction the rebuke of the nations of the 
world, and unless we want to be outlawed, unless we want to be 
outside of the pale of the family of nations, we can not knowingly 
and flagrantly violate any of the articles of the code that governs 
the conduct of nations toward each other. 

The question of belligerency and the question of recognition 
have been so full}' argued that I will simply content myself with 
the statement I have made of the general principles that I think 
bear upon the question. 

I desire to take up the proposition advanced by the Senator from 
Ohio [Mr. Foraker] in this connection. He stated that if we did 
recognize the independence of Cuba, and if there were anything 
lacking, if there were a missing link, we could make that up after- 
wards. In other words, that we could make independence and 
then recognize it. 

You can not make a status of independence for another. You 
can only make your own. You may be an ally of another, but if 
you go outside of the confines of your own territory and dip into 
the affairs of another stale and recognize that which does not 
exist, and set to work to make what you want to recognize, you 



8 

have violated the international compact that binds states and 
civ.lized government. It does not make any difference in the 
case of Cuba whether the quotations that the Senator makes from 
President McKinley's message apply or not. If the sovereignty 
of Spain has ceased, it does not necessarily follow that the sover- 
eignty of the insurgents rises and comes into existence. 

We can only deal with the present state of facts. We can not 
predicate action on a contingent condition which, though likely, 
is not certain to happen. It would unsettle the relations of the 
world were the doctrine to obtain that, because a state may and 
of right ought to become independent, therefore we will proceed 
to recognize something nonexistent, and proceed by our aid to 
create the future existence of what we presently do not know to 
exist, or know not to exist. 

Independence can not be made any other way by the people of 
Cuba than by clothing themselves with the muniments of state- 
hood, and if they have not got them it makes no difference 
whether there is a Spaniard there or not. It may be that after 
the Spaniards leave the island the Cubans will proceed to get to- 
gether after a while, with aid from the United States, and build up 
something that we can call a state, but before that happens we 
can not recognize it. 

Mr. President, my deliberate opinion is that we stultify our- 
selves in voting for independence, and that the President of the 
United States would be bound to veto the resolution if we 
adopted it. 

To show that the insurgents are as much to blame for the con- 
dition of affairs as the Spaniards, I will read some reports of our 
consuls laid before us on the 11th instant. I will turn over and 
read some of their reports and we will see the condition of affairs 
there. I have not time to read many of them. Here is a commu- 
nication from Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day of the 31st of January last. 
I will read only the last part of it, and ask that the whole of it be 
incorporated in my remarks. 

Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 
No. 427.] Consulate of the United State.s 

Santiago de Cuba, January 31, 1S93. 

Siic I desire to inform the honorable Department of State that Captain- 
General Blanco arrived at this port on Friday night, the SSth instant, but 
remained on shipboard until the next mornins:. 

The consular corps called soon after his arrival. Most of General Blanco's 
remarks were directed to the French and American consuls. 

* * * * * * * 

Colonel Marsh, of General Blanco's staff, called upon and dined with me 
the same evening. He speaks fairly good English, and is a gentleman of rare 
social qualities. On leaving he said, "I shall be at all times most happy to 
use whatever influence 1 may have with General Blanco in securing a favor- 
able resolution of any matters that yoti may desire to present to him." 

I told him I was i)repared to take advantage of his offer at once, as there 
had iust arrived at the custom-house in this place a quantity of quinine 
which the collector of customs said he could not deliver duty i'ree without 
instructions from Havana. The colonel promised to lay the inatter at onca 
before the Captain-General, and the quinine is released, and, as I understand, 
it is ordered that all future shipments are to be promptly delivered to me, if 
any shall come. 

On Sunday morning the regular passenger train on the Sabanilla and 
Maroto Hailroad, when 5 miles out of Santiago, was blown up bv dvnamite 
bombs, exploded by electric wires; two cars were shivered in atoms. Five 
passengers were killed outright and twenty-two badly wounded, some of 
T<-hom have since died. It is thought by some that the insurgents believed 
that Captain-General Blauco was on the train; by others that they merely 
wanted to notify the general that they were around and attending to busi- 
ness. 

I am, etc., PULASKI F. HYATT, 

United States Consul. 
3258 



9 

Here is another extract showing how war is carried on in that 
island, the sort of highly civilized soldiers that we are to recog- 
nize, and the highly civilized conduct by which warfare is carried 
on. It is a letter from Mr. Hyatt again, and no one who reads 
these reports can accuse Mr. Hj^att of any partiality to the Span- 
iards. All his sympathies are with the insurgents. I read this 
to show how they treat autonomy: 

Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 

No. 438.] Consulate of the United States. 

Santiago de Cuba, Febrxiary i, 1S93. 

Sir: The military conditions here upon the surface are not materially 
changed, but to one who watches the signs of the times and linows the char- 
acter of the men who act the drama the situation is not without portent. 

The era of good feeling is passing away, while bitter words and cruel acts 
are again coming to the front. Those engaged in works of mercy are de- 
nounced for keeping alive a tribe that ought'"to be dead. But it can not be 
said there is no excuse for harsh judgment. The stoppage of all agricultural 
pursuits and the blowing up of cars containing innocent people can not be 
justified even under the guise of war. Extremists of both sides seem able to 
dominate the sentiments of their respective parties, while a deep feeling of 
personal hatred pervades their breasts. 

General Blanco's mild and humane policy meets with but a feeble response 
from his own followers, while the insurgents laugh at the old man who 
throws sods and grass instead of stones. 

Aiitonomy is already a dead issue, while buying insurgent leaders thus far 
is not a marked success, the insurgent generals having already imprisoned sev- 
eral officers suspected of venality. 

Colonel Marsh, of General Blanco's staff, said recently: 

"Spain fails to comprehend that Cuba has, as it were, two mothei's— a po- 
litical one, which is Spain; a commercial one, which is the United States; and 
the political mother fails to see that the commercial mother has any rights, 
while the commercial mother can not shako off her responsibility, for""God 
has made them next-door neighbors." 

I do not believe that the Westera Continent has ever witnessed death by 
starvation equal to that which now exists in eastern Cuba. 
Very respectfully, etc., 

PULASKI F. HYATT, 

United States Consul. 

There is where the insurgents are blowing up passenger trains 
and killing passengers, private individuals, and where the consul 
states that autonomy is dead. I will read another extract from 
Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. Let us see how they treat Americans 
over there. I read from No. 421, and ask that the whole letter be 
incorporated in my remarks: 

Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 

No. 421.] Consulate of the United States, 

Santiago de Cuba, January 1?, 1S9S. 

Sir: I deem it a duty to lay before the honorable Department of State the 
situation here as affecting American interests, and to inclose herewith an 
order issued by command of Gen. Maximo Gomez, and a translation of the 
same, forbidding the grinding of the sugar crop for the years 1897 and 1898. 

In this part of Cuba, so far as 1 can learn, all idea of making a sugar crop 
is entirely abandoned. 

I regret to say that the stoppage of industries, from present appearances, 
■will not halt at the sugar crop, but coffee and other agricultural crops fall 
under the same ban. 

I had hoped that after the reconcentration order was revoked, through 
the energetic action of the present administration, we would find no trouble 
in reinstating American industries; but it appears that all of the benefits 
that should have accrued to our citizens are thwarted by the action of the 
insurgents, who refuse to allow them to return to their sugar, coffee, and 
other estates. The Pompo manganese mines, owned by Americans, would at- 
the present time be a very iirofltable investment if allowed to operate, are 
also being held up by the same power. 

The three Revery brothers, who I informed you recently I was about to 
assist in returning to their coffee and fruit estates, got there only to find the> 
could not go to work until permission was obtained from the insurgent com- 
mander, which permission seems doubtful, I myself, as I understand my duty, 
being inhibited from rendering them any assistance at this point. 
3358 



10 

These, ■with several sugai- estates within my consular district, are held up 
and becoming more worthless than before. 

It is beyond the power of my pen to describe the situation in eastern Cuba. 
Squalidity, starvation, sickness, and death meets one in all places. Beggars 
throng our doors and stop us on the streets. The dead in large numbers re- 
main over from day to day in the cemeteries unburied. 

****** .1: 

Very respectfully, PULASKI F. HYATT, 

United States Consul. 

I have one or two more here. Here is one on page 33 that I will 
incorporate, the order of Calixto Garcia, who appears to be the 
insurgents' commander, ordering that any one who offered auton- 
omy should be shot. 

[Inclosurein No. 405.] 

Military Departaient of the Ea.st, 

General Headquarters, 
Baire, November 6, 1807. (Third of Independence.) 

To the commanding generals of the first, second, and third army corps of 
eastern Cuba: 

Duly informed through the press that the Spanish Government is offering 
autonomy with the intention by these means to subdue the revolution, or at 
least to bring about disturbances in our ranks and weaken our cause, this 
general headquarters reminds you that the spirit and letter of our co7istitu- 
tion does not admit with Spain any treaty whatever that is not based upon 
the absolute independence of Cuba. 

In accordance with this I will bo inexorable, submitting to a summary 
trial and will consider as traitors all civil or military officers of whatever 
rank who receive me.ssages, commissions, or have any intercourse with the 
enemy, as the supreme government of the republic is the only one author- 
ized, and listen to any overtures that may be made, and even the govern- 
ment will only listen to proposals acknowledging the absolute independence 
of Cuba by the Spanish Government. All persons who come within our 
lines commissioned by the enemy with proposals to submit to Spain will bo 
tried and punished as spies. 

In order to avoid any ignorance being professed on this subject, you will 
circulate this communication among your subordinates, posting this order 
during eight days at your headquarters and have it read in the presence of 
the troops. 

Country and liberty. 

CALIXTO GARCIA. 
Commander in Chief of the Department of the East. 

(Baire is a small village lying about 54 miles from the city of Santiago.) 

Then, again, on page 34, I will read the letter of Mr. Hvatt to 
Mr. Day, No. 410: 

Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 
No. 410.] Consulate of the United States, 

Santiago de Cuba, December 5, 1S07. 

Sir: The situation in this part of Cuba is not destitute of activity; never- 
theless, it seems to be one of expectancy, both sides posing and waiting to 
see what will happen in the United States. 

There is a more secure feeling since the arrival of Governor-General Blanco; 
otherwise no perceptible change. The reconcentration order is relaxed, but 
not removed; but many people have reached a point where it is a matter of 
entire indifference to them whether it is I'emoved or not, for they have lost 
all interest in the problem of existence. 

A census of the island taken to-day, as compared with one taken three 
years ago, I feel confident would show that two-thirds of the residents are 
missing; and the Spanish army would make no better showing. 

Tlio rainy season is practically over, and cooler weather is^ apparent, the 
thermometer ranging from 7U° to 88° F. through the twenty-four hours, in 
the shade. 

His Excellency Enrique Capriles, a former governor of this province, has 
returned to this post of duty. His former record is a sufficient guaranty of 
of an honorable administration. 

******* 

Mr. Rigney. an American sugar planter near Manzanillo, was preparingto 
grind during the coming sea.son. A few nights since the insurgents fired 
seven cannon shots among his buildings, one ball passing through tlie roof of 
his house. Americans were liopef ul that thev would be allowed to make their 
crop, and several arc making ready to do so; but the action of the insurgents 
;;258 



11 

toward Mr. Eigney gives the prnbletn a doubtful aspect. It may bave bcon 
a personal matter against Mr. I^igney. 

The number of destitute Amei-icans fed by this consulate decreased from 
89 to tit, but is again on the increase. Since being fed, sickness among them 
has materially decreased and their appearance has greatly impi'oved- 
******* 
Very respectfully, PULASKI F. HYATT, 

Unitfd States Consul. 

I will not read any more, but I will aslc that the next one, No. 
413, on page 35, be incorporated to show that the order of recon- 
centration was practically wiped out at the date of this letter, 
December 14, 1S97. 

The letter is as follows : 

Mr. Hyatt to Mr. Day. 
No. 413.J Consulate ov the United States, 

Santiago dc Cuba, December lU, 1S07. 
Sir: Since my last dispatch on the situation in Cuba several military 
engagements of more or less importance have occurred, and the insurgents 
are claiming to have liad the best in the fight; but until an engagement shall 
take place of sufficient importance to have a controlling influence, 1 can 
safely leave the press to report on such matter.s. 

I take it to be a matter of far greater importanca that I shall watch the 
trend of public opinion and its eflects on the political situation, for thus far 
battles have not been the most important factors in the Cuban problem. 

Up to the present we have only garbled accounts as to the contents of the 
President "s message, so it is too early to say what its effects will be. I shall, 
however, watch such results with much concera, as all parties have looked 
forward to it with deepest solicitation. 

The order of reconcentratiou is now practically wiped out, and so far as 
the Spanish Government is concerned, men go about nearly as they please. 
The insurgents and their sympathizers will unqnestiouably take advantage 
of the revocation to get from the towns and cit.es what they need, and other- 
wise strengthen their cause. 

The effect on agricultural pursuits will be disappointing, because the great 
majority of those who would or should take up the work joined the insur- 
gent forces when compelled to leave their homos, and the portion which came 
within the lines of reconcentratiou are women, children, old and sickly pe<> 
pie, most of whom seem to have little interest in the problem of life. * * * 
There is no one to take these people back to the fields and utilize their re- 
maining strength. Their houses are destroved, their fields are overgrown 
with weeds, they have no seed to plant, and if they had, they can not live 
sixty or eightv days until the crop matures, which, when grown, would more 
than likely be' taken by one or the other of the contending parties. 

Many of those who are attached to their families have them within the m- 
siu'geut lines. 

* * * * * * * 

Finally, I give it as my opinion, an opinion that I am sure is not biased in 
favor of Cuba, that Spain will be compelled to prosecute a far more vigorous 
war than has yet been done if she conquers peace in Cuba. I think I speak 
advisedly when I .say that in this end of the island, at least, there are many 
thousand square miles where the foot of the Si>anish soldier has never trod. 
Within this zone the insurgents have their families, corral their horses and 
cattle, and raise their crops. They reach the outside world by methods of 
their own. , ,,. 

Why Spain, with a large body of as obedient and Ijrave soldiers as ever 
shouldered a gun, has not penetrated these grounds and scattered to the four 
winds the comparatively small body of men who are there is a question I 
will not attempt to answer. ^, x-i - ^ • 

As I write a man is dying on the street in front of my door, the third m a 
comparatively short time. „ „„ . „^ 

Very respectfully, PULASKI F. HYATT, 

United States Consul. 

Mr. CAFFERY. Mr. President, not only from these consular 
reports, but from the statements in General Grant's first message 
and the statements of every President who has w^ritteu of Cuba 
since, have the wars between the insurgents and the Spanish Gov- 
ernment been characterized, on either'side. as of excessive atrocity, 
of unexampled fierceness, and of complete devastation and ruin 
to the country. It has been shown that the combatants on either 
side are guilty of excesses. The war first started with the firing of 

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the cane fields in eastern Cuba. When Weyler, for whom I have no 
words biit those of condemnation, saw that the insurgents were 
destroying the power of the sugar planters and others to make a 
living and pay taxes to the Spanish Government, he ordered the 
reconcentration of the pacificos, thought to he friendly to the in- 
surgents. So between these two atrocious policies of destruction 
that island is a desert and a waste. 

Both sides are responsible for it; the insurgents as well as the 
Spaniards. They are the same sort of people. There is no differ- 
ence between them in respect to crueltj' and a talent for destruc- 
tion. They are mostly all of Spanish blood. They inherit all the 
virtues and all the vices of their parentage. They have shown as 
much cruelty in warfare, as much wanton waste and destruction 
of i:)roperty. as the Spaniards themselves. 

General Grant mentions in one of his messages the fearful 
tragedy of the murder by the insurgents of COO Spanish prisoners 
at one swoop. It may or may not have been retaliation ; but there 
was and is a war of absolute extermination going on there. That 
is the reason, and the only reason, why we can intervene. The 
only basis xipon which you can put intervention, outside of the 
right of self-defense, is on the humane basis. That is a real, legal 
basis. It is a basis that is acknowledged by the humane code 
that governs the conduct of nations. It is a fearful responsibility 
for a state to undertake to judge of the circumstances that author- 
ize an intervention for humane purposes. 

The ground must be clear of doiibt; the facts must be known 
with certainty. No mere sympathy for a people struggling for 
freedom is a proper or legal basis. 

We seek no gain; we seek no conquest. If, to gain ends of peace, 
we must use the agency of war, the responsibility does not rest 
with us. We must discharge, in the face of difficulties both pres- 
ent and others looming ui) in the future, a solemn duty to human- 
ity and to civilization. 

The probability of some reconcentrados dying by reason of our 
intervention may come to pass, but it is better that some should 
die than all. It is better to save some than that all should perish. 

But, sir, the exigency is on us. Impelled by the highest mo- 
tive that can animate a nation, we are compelled to intervene; 
and for what? To stop a war of extermination and devastation; 
nothing more. If in order to restore peace, and permanently se- 
cure it. we may have to go farther and establish a government, 
we do that as incidental to the power to intervene — in order to 
carry out the beneficent purposes of the intervention. 

Sir, that embarrassments and difficulties may grow out of this 
none will deny, but we can not foresee what the future may bring 
forth in the incidental duties that may devolve iipon us. I re- 
gret that the hand of the President has been forced by the clamor 
for war. He and his predecessor have declared that affairs might 
get so bad as to compel the United States to intervene, and the 
time is at hand now to do so. 

That is the basis iipon which we can rest and defy civilization 
to point out one single flaw in our procedure. It is not only a 
right, but in our case it is a duty, a high Christian, civilized duty. 
It is useless to talk as to whether or not autonomy has been of- 
fered. It has been offered, but it has been rejected. The bearer 
of a flag of truce was murdered in cold blood who tendered on 
behalf of Spain the offer of autonomy and self-government to the 
islanders. There is an order in the consular reports from which 
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13 

I have read showing that it is death to speak of autonomy to an 
insurgent. 

Sir, what kind of a cause is that? Even a whisper of peace is 
met by the murderous machete. Is that the sort of a republic that 
we want to unduly launch upon the civilized world, created by 
our breath, where the bearer of a flag of truce and the conveyor 
of a message of peace has to be murdered? 

Sir, we are justified imder the international law and in the 
Christian conscience of civilization for intervention. It is said 
we have to recognize what does not exist in order to make that 
intervention good. Sir, we will then start with a fraud. We 
will start by passing a spurious counterfeit statehood upon the 
world. That is a start that the United States deliberately pro- 
poses to make in this contemplated proceeding. We can not do 
it and maintain our self-respect as one of the self-respecting na- 
tions of the globe. You can not make states like you make paper 
money. You can not make states like you enact a statute. They 
are something to be made by and on behalf of the people who re- 
side in them, and no outsider can by statute make them. Any 
demand, therefore, for us to acknowledge the existence of a fraud, 
the existence of a counterfeit, ought to be spurned out of this Cham- 
ber. N. 
Sir, the war feeling must be strong that would carry our people J 
to the length of recognizing a falsehood and perpetrating a wrong ( 
and launching upon international life a counterfeit state, vv'hich \ 
would inevitably lead to war. 

And whose war would it be, Mr. President? Ours? Is there a 
foot of American soil that has been invaded by the hostile tread of 
the invader? Is there a single citizen of the United States deprived 
of his life or liberty anywhere in the civilized world for which we 
ought to take up arms? Whose fight is it that we are plunging 
into? Not our tight. It is a fight between certain insurrectionary 
persons in the Island of Cuba and the Spanish Crown, and under 
ordinary circumstances we have nothing to do with it. 

Sir, if there was one single legitimate cause of war to unite this 
people, 1 ,000,000 swords would leap from their scabbards to de- 
fend the honor and the power and the reputation of the United 
States without debating the question an instant. Vv^hy do we talk 
here? Because this resolution involves the consideration of a 
momentous question affecting the good name and the reputation 
of the United States. It affects us very nearly, very closely. It 
affects us in our judgment and in our conscience. 

Sir, this is not a question to be decided by passionate appeal. 
This is not a question to be submitted to the arts of rhetoric. This 
question can not be decided by vilification of Spain; nor, sir, 
ought it to be decided with any reference to any small, political, 
contemptible, partisan advantage. 

Sir, this country appears to be swept from its feet by a perfect 
cyclone of passion. Men of ordinary judgment appear to be lost 
in amazement when they contemplate the extent to which juised 
sympathy and passion are driving us. 

Sir, men get up here in this Chamber and tell ua it is no time to 
talk, but to'act. Act how? Are we going to act foolishly? Are 
we going to act without cause? Are we going to plunge these 
70,000,000 people into the horrors of war? We are told to act, 
to turn loose the dogs of war and let them dip their bloody tongues 
in human gore. That is the cry heard everywhere. Any temper- 
ate counsel is spurned, and a man of moderation is talked of as 
L258 



14 

I have been talked of in the editorial that I have placed upon the 
records this morning. 

Mr. President, I will lay down my position thus: The United 
States of America, moved and inspired by the highest considera- 
tions of humanity and duty, do hereby declare that the war be- 
tween Spain and her insurgent colony shall cease. This is the 
language, the noble language, of President McKinley. And that 
in order to make that declaration good he shall intervene there 
with all the power of this great Republic, and then and there, if 
necessary, establish such a government as will secure permanent 
peace. Whether Spain likes it or whether Spain does not, we 
have gone too far to consider. 

It is idle, sir, to refer to all the concomitant and conspiring cir- 
ciTmstances and incidents that tend to the terrible conclusion of 
war. This ground of pure, unalloyed humanity is sufficient for 
any Senator in this Chamber to stand on. It is an aggravation of 
it to bring in the finding in regard to the Maine. That is an ag- 
gravating cause, but no man can say that it is a controlling cause. 

Why, sir, have we gone insane? Here is a board of inquiry con- 
stituted oiit of our own oificers. Their finding is thrown to the 
winds. Another hearing is taken by a body of civilians and they 
find suspicion of foul play by Spain, which an able court of in- 
quiry did not entertain or did not put down in their report. 

Ah, sir, I commend that report of the naval court of inquiry 
and Captain Sigsbce"s telegram preceding that report. It ought 
to have given the tone to the American conduct and to the Amer- 
ican action in regard to this whole question between the United 
States and Spain. "Suspend your judgment," says that most ad- 
mirable officer, suspend your judgment: do not go oft" too quick; do 
not lose your heads; we will investigate; we will try to find out how 
this occurred, and when it is found out, we will say so. In the 
meantime "suspend your judgment." 

An admirable, excellent, noble telegram, and at the time that 
it Avas written calculated to allay what he must have known 
were the high-wrought feelings of a great-hearted people struck 
almost dumb at the news of tiie terrible catastrophe. Instead of 
following that example, every art of rhetoric, every device of the 
demagogue, is resorted to to help plunge this country into a pre- 
cipitate war. 

Sir, I do not contemplate an honorable war, a just war, with 
any other feeling than one of sorrow, but I do contemplate a war 
waged between the United States and another power without a 
just ground as the most fearful curse that could fall upon the de- 
voted heads of our good, honest, patriotic citizens. 

Sir. as showing the rash and ill-considered war clamor, the find- 
ing of the Navy board of inquiry and the action and stand of the 
President are set aside, and the incident of the Maine is taken as 
the fii-m ground of battle. 

Our own court has found no casus belli. Our own President 
has foimded no case on that incident. 

No impartial man can find a case on what, though terrible and 
shocking, sending a thrill of horror throughout the globe, has not 
been traced to Spain or Spain's act. Until Spain's complicity is 
established her liability to war does not arise. 

Mr. President, I had intended to elaborate the questions in this 
case at Tiiuch greater length. I will only now state some conclu- 
taions that I think may flow from intervention. 

I have no hesitancy in saying that the condition of affairs in 
a258 



15 

Cuba may be such after intervention as to retinire other than a 
cast-iron line of procedure. We are but little acquainted with 
that people and their conditions. Tlae honorable Senator from 
Vermont [Mr. Proctor] has given the clearest, the most succinct, 
and the most comprehensive statement that I have heard on the 
subject, and he does not satisfy me entirely. He could not have 
known the insurgents, the body of whom are to constitute the 
electorate. He did not see them; he was in the city of Havana 
mostly, and necessarily got his information secondhand. 

Mr. HOAR and Mr. GRAY. Nor did he speak Spanish. 

Mr. CAFFERY. Well, that is another drawback; but whether 
he spoke Spanish or not. he was not in the field, where he could 
discover precisely what kind of a government that people require. 
That ultimately some kind of a government of the people will be 
established there is without question; but, Mr. President, tliat is 
a most delicate operation, involving a practical acquaintance with 
the local conditions, involving a knowledge of who ought and who 
ought not to belong to the electorate, involving, in short, a com- 
plt'te inquiry as to the social and political conditions of that 
island. 

Does not everybody know that after tliis war— you may say it 
is the culmination of the war of 1863— has lasted now thirteen 
years, with a break of seventeen years, the feelings of bitterness and 
hatred that have been engendered between the contestants must 
require of whoever goes in there to establish a government most 
caiitious, most wise action? 

The honorable Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Moxey] in a 
speech delivered in this body said that the insurgents had four 
centuries of wrongs to resent and injuries to avenge, and that the 
lex talionis would be applied. If that be so, Mr. President, is it 
not incumbent upon us to give the President of the United States 
the widest latitude of operation, the widest discretion? It seems 
to me so. It seems to me that the House resolution must be modi- 
fied in some particulars so as to give him a full and plenary juris- 
diction on the lines that he asks for in his message. 

I must say. sir, that that message commends itself to me, to the 
world, to civilization, as one of the most sagacious, wise, htirnane, 
and. statesmanlike documents that ever came from a civilized 
ruler. It will be a memorial hereafter to the wisdom and patience 
and patriotism of President McKinley. It will show, when the 
proper occasion arises, the man whom the American electorate 
selects for the Presidency will always rise up to its height, how- 
ever high it may be, and the greater the occasion the greater his 
patriotism. 

Mr. President, one thought more, and I will take my seat. I 
have no doubt in my own mind that in the future the Island of 
Cuba will be ours. I do not say that we ought, in a spirit of ag- 
gression or greed for additional territory, to take any steps to 
bring about that result; biit I do say that the finger of destiny 
itseK points to it. It is not in the condition of the Hawaiian Islands 
or some insignificant point in the Pacific or the Atlantic. It is 
necessary to round up, as Mr. Jefferson said in an early day, the 
full possessions of the American Republic. No man can sail past 
the Florida Keys into the Gulf of Mexico who does not see the 
vast importance of that island to the American Republic. It is a 
part, and an essential part, of the Monroe doctrine that that island 
shall belong to no other foreign country than Spain. 

What is the significance of that doctrine, Mr. President? Some 
£258 



LIBKHKY Ul- CUNOKtbb 



013 785 883 S 



16 



time in the course of events Spain will have to let go that island. 
Spain is poor. She is vexed with dynastic trouble. Her resotirce.5 
can not much longer stand the drain of keeping up a struggle in 
which the chances of success are desperate. There will be an 
independent government in Cuba, even if we, the United States 
keep hands oft" now. Then Americans will flock there. They will 
finally get control of the government. Revolutions will, no doubt, 
break out at intervals, as they have in every Spanish- American 
country, but constant accessions of Americans will gradually ce- 
ment their strength and importance. Loyalty to the Stars and 
Stripes will comijel the erection of our national ensign as the gov- 
erning flag in Cuba. I do not say, Mr. President, that I desire to 
see Cuba a State in the American Union. Certainly not until after 
a long tutelage of the population under Federal guardianship. 
That tutelage will be found necessary to tit the mass of the inhab- 
itants there for the duties of citizenship as we understand them. 
But the destiny of Cuba is to be a part of a Republic to which, by 
situation and interests, she is and will be so closely bound. 

With its nearness to this great Republic, right under the shadow 
of our institutions and influence, with the commercial intercourse 
between us and Cuba so large and constantly increasing, it is the 
part of wisdom to forecast the time when the lone star of the 
Cuban banner will glitter in the constellation on the bhxe field of 
our own star-spangled banner. But, ah, sir, that is not what the 
insurgents want now. They want independence. They have had 
the United States fighting their battles all the way along. The 
Cuban junta has directed operations from the city of New York. 
It does not stand them in hand to say that they have not sold or 
issued over a hundred thousand dollars of bonds. It is manifest 
that nobody will take them until the independence of that island 
is recognized; and to this end, they have bent every energy to force 
recognition by the United States. 

Now, sir, when they get their independence, what then? Their 
bonds will, I am told, go to 40 cents in the dollar. They want, 
perhaps, to take the plantations that belong to the Spaniards as 
security for them. The Spaniards own nearly all the property. 
That appears to be the fact from the representations of the con- 
suls. There are in Cuba about 300,000 Spaniards: there are about 
800,000 Cubans; there are about 500,000 colored. That 800,000 
\vill probably dominate the balance of the population, possibly 
tolerating the colored, until such time as they can be set aside. 
Such a heterogeneous population, animated by the hatreds of war, 
liable to clash from racial differences, naturally leads to revolu- 
tion. A government recognized to-day may be extinct to-morrow, 
until finally the result of which I have spoken will come to pass — 
the incorporation of the island into the territory of this Republic. 

Mr. President, I will leave the subject at this point. I have 
endeavored to look at this question as calmly and as dispassion- 
ately as I could. Whether or not I have strvick the right line is 
for others to say. liut whatever conclusion I have arrived at has 
at least been one attained after much reflection and after the best 
judgment 1 could give to the question. 



